Family Resemblance

One Day at a Time Devotional

“As is the mother, so is her daughter.”

Ezekiel 16:44b

As a mother of seven children, two boys and five girls, it is interesting to observe how many traits they inherited from me. In addition, it is just as interesting to see my husband’s traits manifested in each of them. Each of my children are special to me. I can describe each of them to you from their birth experiences, their personalities, their scars and broken bones, their salvation testimonies, their strengths and weaknesses, their different physical qualities and appearances, their likes and dislikes, etcetera. There are moments when I am amazed at God’s diverse creations.

One daughter of mine, in particular, is very much like me. She favors my appearance and personality. This daughter has hair like mine, her frame is similar to mine, her skin tone is fair like mine, her sense of humor is just like mine and the list goes on. When comparing pictures of my youthful days to her current pictures, there are undeniable similarities.

When this daughter was small, my husband, who is of Native American and East Indian descent, would approach the church nursery to pick her up and bring her home. The nursery workers would look at him and then look at my daughter confusedly due to the lack of resemblance. Of course, she would smile at her Dad and then the workers knew that he was indeed her father. This simple story leads us to our passage of study today.

In Ezekiel, chapter sixteen, God tells the preacher to bring the children of Israel a message. God wants to remind them of how much He has done for them. God has the preacher remind them of how they were destitute at birth, unclothed, and unloved until God found them. He then gave them His love, He clothed and provided for them. When Israel was dirty, God washed them and when they were hungry, He fed them just as you and I would do for our own children. God reminds His children, Israel, of the beauty they received from Him as their Father and all the loving care that a parent would give to a loved child.

Unfortunately, Israel took God’s love and kindness for granted. They began to ignore their Heavenly Father and turn their backs on everything God had taught them and did for them. They began to give others credit for their achievements and they began to worship false gods and idols. Israel began to spend more time with the unsaved and the worldly. As they did this, God compares them to the unsaved nations, “Thou art thy mother’s daughter, that lotheth her husband and her children; and thou art the sister of thy sisters, which lothed their husbands and their children: your mother was an Hittite, and your father an Amorite.And thine elder sister is Samaria, she and her daughters that dwell at thy left hand: and thy younger sister, that dwelleth at thy right hand, is Sodom and her daughters.” Ezekiel 16:45-46. God is simply saying, “You no longer resemble me, but you resemble those you are hanging around, the unsaved.”

Once we are saved, we are to be conformed to God’s image, see Romans 8:29. The name “Christian” is not just a title, but it is a responsibility to think, act, and look like Christ. As a child of God, whom do you resemble at this moment? If an unbeliever were to meet you for the first time, would they think, “She’s just like me” or would they say “There is something unique about her, she has something I don’t”? Perhaps, you have heard the adage, “Birds of a feather flock together.” Let me caution you, if you are spending more time around and with the unsaved than you are with God and His people, your appearance may be changing. If you find that serving and spending time with God through prayer, Bible reading and church attendance are becoming uncomfortable and boring, you may be spending time with the wrong persons and taking on their characteristics.

Take this moment to pray and look in that “spiritual mirror”. If there is some unattractive resemblances, ask God to change your appearance into His likeness. Your goal should be to spend so much time with God that you look just like Him. When you look in the mirror, who do you see, the world or Christ? I would like to encourage each of you to daily examine your lives and to spend more time walking with Jesus so that there is a strong family resemblance. “That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. 5 For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.” Romans 8:4-5

Warm Regards,

& One Day at a Time Devotional,
a ministry of Riverview Baptist Church